2 ohm or not 2 ohm

So you think that someone is wasting money if they don't load down their amplifier to it's lowest stable impedance?  So what do you say to people with a single 4 ohm sub?  After all 4 ohm stable sub amps are few and far between.  Do you require them to go out and purchase another sub to drop the impedance, or even swap subs?  Now who is wasting money?

Are you familiar with America's obsession with the SUV?  Do you really think that all those SUV's on the road are owned by families who are able to fill the seats up?  Heck, my car usually only has one person in it and it has 4 seats. 

There are advantages to running an amplifier at a higher impedance.  You will have less heat as Dyohn already mentioned, lower distortion, and less stress on the electrical system. 

if he has the equipment, thats one thing.  but i would never sell a customer a mono subamp that is stable to 2 or 1 ohm, and then sell a single 4 ohm subwoofer, unless the customer planned on buying another sub at a later date.  that would be a waste of an amp. 

i'm very familiar with that obsession....it sounds like a mismatch to me, just like a 4 ohm sub on a mono sub amp.....

if you can tell on a mono sub amp, the distortion difference between a 2 and 4 ohm load, then you must have some very fine tuned ears. i understand that you will get less heat, but if the amp is designed for a lower impedance, then it should not be an issue.  if you want less stress on your electrical system, then dont buy an amp that is more than you need anyways.   

i really find it amazing that you guys cant understand my logic in this...is it because i dont have a thousand posts here and a bunch of icons next to my name, that you guys feel that my opinion is wrong?  i guarantee you, the rest of the car audio world is with me on this one....

Duct tape no one said you were wrong.  You just simply did not answer the question, and now you are getting belligerent about it.  Chill out.

I completely disagree with you, however, that it is somehow a "waste" to not run your gear full out all the time.  It is simply a matter of choice and trade-offs.  If someone wants the highest SQ possible from their gear and they are concerned about longevity, using higher impedance loads is a good thing to do.  If someone simply wants things to get as loud as possible, the lowest impedance load is the way to go.  Different strokes is all it is.

Me, I have used a DVC 4-ohm sub specifically so I can operate at 8-ohms many times.  In fact right now I have two 4-ohm SVC subs in series for an 8-ohm load in my car.  It's all about keeping things clean, doing what's best for the amp, and balancing the overall acoustic output of a system to create the effect I want in my vehicle. 

I'm with Duct Tape with this one. He's simply trying to help the OP to get the most out of his amp. I don't know how anyone can preach to buy your amps and don't put it at the lowest impedance because the cons produced are yes, proveable, but most of the time it is inaudible and doesn't really make a difference. Hell, you're not even calculating everything else in his set up and you don't know how the OP's electrical system is. What's wrong with a little headroom and gains manipulation? Just curious, out of all the enthusiast and consumers in this money pit,  who's buying their sub amps to put it at higher impedance? Very little I would guess. And it's probably those same home audio guys who are buying $500 speakers wires to put it in their cars.

Oh BTW, people gotta stop bringing in other professionals to back their statement up. We have the same engineers saying to keep your RCA's and power wire separate. I pretty sure the majority installers know how questionable that logic is... when their guilty of doing that but yet to get noise. "Hey, I've been doing this for 20 years, I know what I'm doing." Yeah you could be doing it wrong for 20 years. LMAO!! :D

Okay you got me there haemphyst. You're right... I didn't really read the first question thoroughly. You guys are answering the question that the OP's asking. I apologize. I jumped the gun and saw a lot of bickering. LMAO!